33869 replies to this topic

[pokari]

Name of the Wind I am halfway through (and have been for years now, but still) so I skipped part of what you said in case spoilers. :'p

I really do/did like the book though—even if it's stressful to read (everything goes wrong, protagonist makes rash decisions, and from the beginning framing device you know it ultimately turns out not terribly well, though probably not outright horribly either).

The second book sounds silly as described, what exactly are the carnivores going to eat, then? Either you've got some sort of synthmeat or some such, or they die (unless artistic license is involved, which it probably is, and/or it's just being metaphorical).

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[penrosecat]

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Hi guys

 

new semester, new course load.

(too much really)

 

Yeah I got some games too recently. FE: Awakening for my long unused 3DS. I love it soooo much <3

theres so much replay value and it's such a good game for just passing time without thinking too much. 

about audio books and other auditory media, i always feel as if, if i could get myself to listen to stuff every day, i would subconsciously imbibe all the cool stuff? but then i realise how much time i waste memorising stuff anyway that i would just take too much pressure on myself to actually learn something, rather than use it for entertainment.

 

you guys ever feel like every thought you had is so late compared to everyone around you who already thought of it and are ahead of you and all that psychological crap. i have that happening all the time now. just too insecure and messed up. now i guess have to go sleep, class at 8 in the morning.

[pokari]

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Penrowo!

*hugs* >w<

you guys ever feel like every thought you had is so late compared to everyone around you who already thought of it and are ahead of you and all that psychological crap.

Yes. So much. The worst for me is when deliberately trying to think up something new (I'm thinking back to video game ideas right now buy I assume other disciplines have this same problem), you talk about it to like seven people and inevitably two or three of them will tell you what already exists that is exactly like that.

It totally messes with one's self-perception—"I can't think of anything new, how can these other people"—the trick is, most other 'new' ideas, even the remarkable ones, aren't actually new ideas either, just slight mutations of other existing ones.

Ultimately, there are a few billion people thinking thoughts at any given moment, and a truly new one is quite hard to come by. Probably healthier to not worry about it and just focus on what is important to you (To whatever extent that's applicable in this context).

Regardless, I think you're great, in case that sort of affirmation helps any. uwu

Take care, okay? And sweet dreams.

Edited by pokari, 21 January 2020 - 12:21 AM.

[PItiful Boar]

12 sounds like somebodys an overachiever - i was the same way, taking 5 courses at a time

awakening has a really nice soundtrack - the intro is just cool

i sometimes would pair people next to each other just to check out their romance dialogues - more interesting than the actual game play

like most games, i think i stopped at the final chapter, coz

finishing games are just so saaaaaaad

[penrosecat]

i sometimes would pair people next to each other just to check out their romance dialogues - more interesting than the actual game play

 

i think i should have done this rather than finishing the game, so that i would keep getting back to it. but yeah they are cute supports. plus every marriage gets you a kid, and the main character can even marry the kids. so i don't think i will be collecting every dialogue anytime soon anyway.

 

 

12 sounds like somebodys an overachiever - i was the same way, taking 5 courses at a time

 

when everybody is an overachiever, then is nobody an overachiever? 

It totally messes with one's self-perception—"I can't think of anything new, how can these other people"—the trick is, most other 'new' ideas, even the remarkable ones, aren't actually new ideas either, just slight mutations of other existing ones.

 

so i read this somewhere, the fertile ground for thesis and projects and stuff for all kinds of people is in the last page of existing published papers, with questions like further work, feasibility and so on. maybe this information will be of value.

[pokari]

when everybody is an overachiever, then is nobody an overachiever? 

When everybody is an overachiever, everyone is stressed.

(We can get into the weeds as to whether it's sometimes "positive stress", like high-tension and frantic but excited working, or whether it's always "negative stress", but notwithstanding that I think the result will be pretty universal.)

And they're still overachievers—albeit overachievers who are at risk of a mass delusion that they are not so. u.u

so i read this somewhere, the fertile ground for thesis and projects and stuff for all kinds of people is in the last page of existing published papers, with questions like further work, feasibility and so on. maybe this information will be of value.

I mean, it's just a formalised version of how human knowledge expanded in the first place. We're not that much smarter than other animals, it would seem, just better at passing on ideas (particularly, abstract ones), leading to random variations on successful ideas in a crude, buckshot manner, that sort of mirrors the biological processes of evolution, except possibly even more entropy-defying.

Which isn't to say we don't have the occasional individual masterstroke... But we tend to overemphasize such things in the narratives we tell ourselves about us.

[PItiful Boar]

15 i'm counting because nobody else does thanks guys

 

I think the earlier you're born the easier it is to become successful. like the first person who came up with the punctuation marks

although i have to say, the story of FE wasn't that great. It's a lot like game of thrones. Most of it is just atmosphere.

And it's nice because you actually team up with people instead of trying to compete and out-rank them on a social hiearchy

[pokari]

You say that but I would suspect punctuation marks went through exactly the sort of evolution I'm talking about...

Often the people who laid down what we now think of as "the basics" were esoteric in their own time.

Not that I don't get what you're saying, though.

15 i'm counting because nobody else does thanks guys

Oh, how the tables have tabled.

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although i have to say, the story of FE wasn't that great. It's a lot like game of thrones. Most of it is just atmosphere.

And it's nice because you actually team up with people instead of trying to compete and out-rank them on a social hiearchy

 

i mean there is a reason path of radiance is so good and ike is so popular, at every stage it was about rank not deciding social standing and strength not deciding the ultimate winner.

 

i think they did the non royal family main hero thing again in three houses (not sure). awakening is too short i guess would be one of my complaints. i wanted to have like 50 levels to make everyone married and maxed out. also what is the point of reclassing? i don't know how many people are like this, but i hate changing default settings of things. same with default skills of playable characters. if their art and intro began with being a mage, why would i reclass to some warrior type or other random stuff? why give me that option to begin with? so i never used the class changing items throughout. i didnt even use the promotion items before level 20 because they wouldn't have as high stats (not that it mattered at all).

 

but i really liked that they made a casual option. usually you need to go through the game twice before identifying bottlenecks where people die and then a lot of save states

to go without deaths (sorry fake gamer here) and even then in something like FE mainly i would play for the story and the feelings, not necessarily the gameplay. indeed i always turn off battle animation (does it exist for an immersive experience? i feel kind of bad that a battle game is turn based when i see the animations. like hell people just take the hits in a war)

[pokari]

indeed i always turn off battle animation (does it exist for an immersive experience? i feel kind of bad that a battle game is turn based when i see the animations. like hell people just take the hits in a war)

I mean, everyone politely lining up and taking turns is a necessary weasel of turn-based war games. All the way back to chess and earlier. A terrible simulation of any battlefield, really.

I do know a number of tactical-grid video games that I have played have some sort of tit-for-tat mechanic where the thing you're fighting does fight back. A counter-attack of some sort, either simultaneously or afterwards, oftentimes such that a foolhardy assailant may come out the worse for the encounter. I assume in addition to any strategy balance considerations that's also there for precisely the reason of addressing that particular lingering quibble.

In some of the tabletops where you don't have to animate anything (thinking of D&D in particular right now) the excuse is that a turn is only a few seconds at most, and of course some of this other stuff is theoretically happening in parallel, but, this is the order it ultimately resolves in. But once you put animations or other concrete dressings on stuff that sort of hand-waving becomes no longer practicable.

But by now people are just used to it to some extent, I feel. JRPGs really normalised the whole "everyone stands still, except on their turn when they run over to hit someone," thing. And the game-makers need something to animate to avoid people complaining that the game feels static (big fancy games are supposed to, y'know, look good and exciting and all).

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[PItiful Boar]

19 lol right, well, the alternative is you can turn into a macro champ in RT game - see how many APMs you can cram in.

Or perfect your dark souls like timing skillz

i mean, static works well, too, if done right, like the persona or the shin megami tensei games. SMT 3 is still the best imo. Talk about competition of worldviews

FE is more family oriented, clannish. Like you can choose who to decide with in three houses , etc

[PItiful Boar]

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[pokari]

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One of the Megami Tensei games was one of the things I was thinking of with attacking being an opportunity for getting hit, I think. But probably not that particular one. I haven't played very much of the series (and none of the Personas).

Those games are definitely in the category of, "I see that multiple runs of this game will have multiple outcomes and I'm curious about that but dear lord there's not enough time in my life that do this long game over and over," for me.

But I remember back when I was younger I played (most of) FFVIII like, four times, and even though it ostensibly should have very little replay value, got a lot out of that... What gives?

Is it something like, I'm older and have more crystallized intelligence, so my experience is just that much less subtle and organic, because I rationalize and organize my thoughts on everything that's going on the first time through?

I also had just way more patience for doing/watching the same thing over and over again as a kid. As one does. Just how many times did I watch certain movies...? I feel like how I enjoyed things then and how I enjoy them now must be fundamentally different—it's not like I don't enjoy things now but now I tear voraciously through new material, even if some of it isn't as high-quality, instead.

[PItiful Boar]

22 yes that's why they make you do kumon math when you're a kid - c0z solving differential equations is fun!

(I 've never went to kumon nor would i ever push my worst enemies' kids to one)

also hometown team lost in the superbowl... devasted ... whats the meaning of lyf

[pokari]

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Oh, did the superbowl happen already? I knew it was coming up (from tidbits in the newspaper and silly snacks in the grocery store) but I didn't think it was over yet.

Well, I'd have known if the 49ers had won, from all the illegal fireworks that would have been going off, no doubt.

Anyway. Somebody's home team has to lose. Seems fine to me.

[PItiful Boar]

24 u are so unpatriotic! inexcusable!

 

but i do dislike the illegal fireworks. at least it's not like the europeans or the latin americans; they've got riots

[pokari]

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Oh, I actually like the illegal fireworks so long as they don't go too late into the evening. They're pretty and all. Which is quite different from me approving of them, fire hazard and all, it should be said.

I am however in either case also glad, I suppose, that the death and destruction caused by these events is kept to a relative minimum. Of course, it could just be because it's not even real football... I'm not quite sure how these things work.

[PItiful Boar]

76 how it works? the same as gladiators of the ancient roman coliseums? or like that game they play in alita, with robot upgraded parts. It helps to channel the savagery of the species.

 

I've been having some problems with my eyes lately. And I've actually been typing with my eyes close more often. Imagine if I lose my hearing. I wouldn't be able to derive any pleasure

[pokari]

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I'm sorry that your eyes are giving you trouble. I hope it is a temporary aberration. >~<;

*hugs*

And of course losing hearing would be terrible. D:

[PItiful Boar]

78 i finished listening to lord of light by roger zelazny (I Hope I got his last name right)

There was a dialogue between Death god Yama and a former assassin turned buddhist named Rild - and it was just damn good. Rild challenges Death to a duel to prevent death god from reaching his master the Buddha. Rild loses but fought so well that Death granted him a death boon. Rild chants in the ancient tongue - what's to become of man after Death, does his existence remain? Or does go into oblivion? Death says even the Gods do not know, and he ask Rild to ask him another. Rild refused. Death again asked him to choose to choose something else - his life, wealth, women, etc. Rild replies - all those are transient, only the answer to my question. So Death grew quiet, and said - very well, it's not something that I can show you - and so proceeded to fight him to the death again, but this time controlled, so that he feels the boundary between life and death.... it was amazing scene